I recently went to court in a private family law situation- ran and orchestrated by a social worker, I lost my son to his father who has been absent for most of his life and shy of responsibility, I had problems with my son and he gefan to tell big lies everytime his father rejected him, these ranged from physical to sexual, none were aimed at me but opened several investigations, the final was aimed at me that he had been beaten.
I never went to the polce to be questioned just an informal chat at my home over a coffee, that was the end of it.
My son was given to his father whilst this was undertaken and his father never returned him.
I was very upset and tried to contact the social worker who said I had to wait and couldn't see my son.
4 months later I received acphone call from a different social worker who was very kind, explained my son had been assaulted by his father, told me to expect him to be taken into care, she said she would call me again.
She did, she was disgusted that my son was kept with his father and said it was the choice of the social worker, she offered to come and see me in her own time.
She did, she told me to get everything in court, as a mother she said the truth would out.
The day after the assault which the police said should be a minimum common assault and criminal damage the social worker asked the local authority to pay a cheque for the father for private law, he was under a sec47 at the time.
I went to court armed with all the data about my son that was sent.
The courts asked each party to respond to both section 47 reports, my legal team and ny barrister requested the report regarding myself, he was told it would be sent to my solicitors office.
Weeks past and no report.
We asked for the paediatricians report, this also didn't come, the local authority said it was lost.
I have since found there was no section 47 on myself just the father and that was never completed, they still say the other reports were lost, I had them from my gp and they had no comparison to the social workers report.
In private law all I did was answer to a social worker who as a witness sat through the whole case and refused to answer any questions which weren't in her last report.
3 hearings the last two days long, the court app, the applications all filled out by a social worker who I can prove done nothing but lie.
I have been labelled by magistrates as an alcoholic with violent tendencies in denial and fully guilty of an assault which the police saw as not even worth an official questioning under caution and a report which is nothing as my son had said at all.
I lost my son, carry my label and am refused access as without any independent advocate to ask my sons feelings.
Looking through the data, the social worker, newly qualified stated within 5 days of taking my sons case and hadn't even visited my home said she did not support him living with me, there then followed systematic destruction of my once happy family unit, to top it all I was even accused of being sexually involved with my eldest son at the time 20.
I don't have any idea what I should do, I have all the proof all in documents from the local authority.
The local authority still claim to trying to find tge section 47 papers which their paralegals have since emailed my solicitor to state it never existed but the children's services department keep lying even now.
I was sent a photo of my son at a local pool, his back and arms terribly bruised, I tried to report and the social worker stopped the enquiry, even shown the photo she said she couldn't see anything.
All I can say is god help us in the south west,the council being paid to have newly qualified social workers better trained and not in court for the first 12 months or have work loads, our government subsidies each of them to the local authority- a shambles of a program doomed to fail and risk ***** children.

My name is Suzie, online adviser, at Family Rights Group. I am sorry that you feel upset and frustrated by the way your case regarding your son was handled by children services (new name for social services) which resulted in him being removed from your care.

You say that the court has made an order for your son to live with his father in private law proceedings but you concern seem to be around the way in which children services handled their investigations into allegations made against you by your son.

It is usual for children services to carry out child protection enquiries where there is an allegation that a child has been harmed. This is usually done under s.47 child protection enquiries. Please read about child protection enquiries in our advice sheet. You should understand, however, that even if the police does not pursue an allegation this does not mean that children services will not continue with their own enquiries. The reason for this is because the police and children services are looking at different things. For the police, they are looking for evidence to bring a successful prosecution, children services have a duty to ensure that children in their area are safeguarded and living in a safe environment.

Your son was placed with his father during the enquiries but you should have been able to have at least supervised contact. I do not know how old your son is but if he did not want contact the social worker has to take account of his wishes and feelings but encourage contact.

It appears that children services concluded that your son would be safer in his father’s care than yours. As the matter was in court, the judge would be the person who would consider all the evidence presented and make a decision based on the welfare of your son and what is in his best interests. Whatever evidence you had to support your case should have been given to your solicitor so he or she could advise you on its relevance and present it to the court as appropriate.

You need to discuss with your solicitor whether there are grounds for an appeal against the magistrates’ decision. It is not clear when the order was made so I do not know if you are still within the time limits for an appeal if there are grounds to appeal.

I do not understand how it would be possible for you to respond to a s.47 report which was non-existent. It would be necessary to refer to the report in order to comment on it or anything in it that you considered factually incorrect. This is something you need to discuss with your solicitor.

As far as the handling of your case by children services is concerned, if you believe it was dealt with unfairly or unprofessionally, it is open to you to make a formal complaint and a copy of our is included advice sheet for your information.

You can also ask for copies of the case record the children services hold on your family and our advice sheet relating to accessing records is attached for your further information.

I hope you find this helpful, but should you wish to speak to an adviser about children services, not the private law proceedings, please telephone our advice line on 0808 801 0366. The advice line is open from 9.30 a.m. to 3.00 p.m. Monday to Friday.